TN Man Meets German Pilot Who Shot Down His Father In WWII

Check out this amazing story of a Tennessee man who met with the German pilot who shot down his father’s plane in World War II.

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Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn. — For the German fighter pilot, a man who would fly 241 combat missions, the crippling of an American B-17 plane in World War II was just another day up in the office.

Peacock’s father, also named Francis, was onboard the B-17 when it was shot down on Feb. 22, 1944. But the German ace, now a spry 92-year-old living in Heidelberg, Germany, also said he was thrilled to see all 10 parachutes from the flight crew — including one with the senior Peacock dangling beneath it — open successfully and descend.

“I said, ‘Thanks,’” a moved Peacock, 65, told Müller. The German reached over, patted him on the leg and said, “I’m a father. I know what you’re thinking.”

The two men — the pilot and the son of the navigator of the B-17 named Pot O’Gold — were put together in June by a history-loving Danish man who was captivated by the WWII incident that occurred near the Northwest Denmark town where he was raised.

Nikolaj Bojer, who was not alive when the parachutes came down and the plane crash landed in a field near Hoerdum, Denmark, nevertheless grew up hearing about the incident and the impact it made on the area. The region around Hoerdum, where Bojer lived, was not used to aerial combat during the war.